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When Amazon announced their plans to move their corporate headquarters to New York City they were met with outrage from many different people including lawmakers, progressive activists and union leaders. Because of this as, of Thursday February 14th, Amazon has abandoned their plans to build their corporate campus in New York City.

The primary reason people were so against the building of the headquarters was because of the extensive tax breaks the company was to receive, close to $3 billion in government incentives. The invitation of Amazon to New York City was part of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s efforts to expand the city’s economy and make it more inviting to progressive companies. This has led to arguments between politicians about the best way to expand the city’s economy and improve the economic state of many. The reasoning and initial support behind the building of Amazon’s headquarters had been the promised 50,000 high paying jobs that would have been offered along with billions in investment.

However, many, primarily Democratic politicians, have argued that cutting taxes for the wealthy is not the best or most effective way to improve the economy. Instead, these politicians rally for ways to strengthen the economic standing of the middle class. This approach takes inspiration from the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Called the “Green New Deal,” it focuses on getting fair, living wages for workers and safer living standard. Additionally, they plan to focus on ways to make higher education less expensive. Different delegates have various versions of this plan; however, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s version of the plan seems to be the most popular.

After receiving an unexpected backlash for all of these reasons, Amazon decided to abandon their plans because of the negative impact on their company image. Amazon now plans to grow through its tech hubs with locations in cities including Boston, MA, Austin, TX and Vancouver, BC.